Lies My Teacher Told Me
Unit Plan and Study Guide
"Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat the eleventh grade."
- James Loewen
Book Introduction (from Loewen’s website)
High school students hate history. When they list their favorite
subjects, history always comes in last. They consider it the most
irrelevant of twenty-one school subjects; bo-o-o-oring is the
adjective most often applied.
James Loewen spent two years at the Smithsonian Institute
surveying twelve leading high school textbooks of American
History. What he found was an embarrassing amalgam of bland
optimism, blind patriotism, and misinformation pure and simple,
weighing in at an average of four-and-a-half pounds and 888
pages.
In response, he has written Lies My Teacher Told Me, in part a
telling critique of existing books but, more importantly, a wonderful retelling of
American history as it should - and could - be taught to American students. Beginning
with pre-Columbian American history and ranging over characters and events as diverse
as Reconstruction, Helen Keller, the first Thanksgiving, and the My Lai massacre,
Loewen supplies the conflict, suspense, unresolved drama, and connection with currentday issues so appallingly missing from textbook accounts.
A treat to read and a serious critique of American education, Lies My Teacher Told Me is
for anyone who has ever fallen asleep in history class.
Before you read
1. This book has been pretty provocative, perhaps even offensive to some. Your
teachers are not necessarily endorsing it as the “truth.” Do you?
2. What do you believe to be the primary purpose for teaching American history?
3. What ends should an education in American history serve? Should it make you
patriotic? Should it make you critical? Should it just satisfy some lame diploma
requirement so that you can graduate and get a good job?
4. What is the point of a history textbook? Does it matter who writes them? Does it
matter when they are written?
Chapter 1
1. How does Loewen define heroification? Do you agree with his definition?
2. Why is comparing the life and accomplishments of Woodrow Wilson to Helen
Keller significant in understanding the heroification process?
Chapter 2
3. Why is chapter 2 titled “1493"?
4. Compare the “traditional story” of the European Discovery with the one you read
about in Lowewen. What are the differences?
5. Why do American History textbooks promote the belief that the most important
developments in world history are traceable to Europe?
6. What are some of the myths surrounding Columbus according to Loewen?
Chapter 3
7. What are some of the myths of the First Thanksgiving? What are some of the
truths?
8. What significance does Loewen attach to disease in the development of U.S.
History?
Chapter 4
9. Why do American textbooks gloss over (trivialize) events between Native
Americans and white Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries?
10. What do you think were the major reasons why acculturation did not work with
Native Americans? What does Loewen say about this? What reasons are given
online? How does portraying Native American history as a tragedy affect our
understanding of U.S. history? (p.133)
Chapter 5
11. What examples are used to show that white-black-red racial relations were
significant in the development of political, cultural, and economic values in the
U.S?
12. How has slavery impacted foreign policy and territorial expansion in the United
States?
13. What is meant by the “confederate myth” referred to on page 160?
14. Why is it, according to Loewen, important to focus on white racism between the
years 1890 and 1920 in the treatment of African-Americans? (p.161)
Chapter 6
15. What is the significance of John Brown’s statement that “this question is still to
be settled” (p. 172), in understanding how history textbooks are written to present
a particular point of view?
16. Critique, "Loewen’s" analysis of the Gettysburg Address (pp. 182-83).Do you
agree or disagree with his analysis? Why?
17. According to Loewen, why is it important to understand the roles of
“carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” in understanding the Reconstruction Era?
(pp.196-199)
Chapter 7
18. Why do you think American History textbooks routinely leave out issues of social
and economic inequality? Your response should include an understanding of
“social class” described on page 202.
Chapter 8
19. Do textbooks paint a realistic picture of the American federal government? Why
or why not? Be sure to include specific examples.
Chapter 9
20. Why do American history textbooks gloss over the recent past? What, according
to you, is the last date for history vs. current events? (E.g. do events in 2000 count
as history? Or 1995? 1990?)
Chapter 10
21. What do the last chapters of American History textbooks convey, according to
Loewen?
Chapters 11, 12, and Afterward
22. What are "Loewen’s' solutions to the problems in American History textbooks?
23. Do you agree with his solutions? Why or why not?
After you Read….
24. Before the first day of school, you will be issued a common US history textbook
called The American Pageant. Loewen mentions it several times in his analysis of
history books. We will be using this as the primary text. What do you think about
this?
25. Given what we have just learned about history and history textbooks, how should
be approach our subject and our textbook?